The operation of certain types of machinery, such as cranes and excavators, for example, require the coordinated manipulation of both hand levers and foot pedals. The ease with which such manipulations can be accomplished and the comfort of the operator in performing them minimizes fatigue, particularly when the operation involves a series of repetitive manipulations, improves production efficiency, reduces stress and wear on the machinery and aides in effecting the precision needed in certain applications for such machinery. Because there are inherent variations in the physical size and stature of operators, there must be some means of relative adjustment between the seat and the controls. One approach has been to provide a fore and aft adjustment for the seat alone, which permits altering the realtionship between the seat and hand levers as well as the seat and the foot pedals. Since the seat to levers and seat to pedals relationships are interdependent, it is impossible to achieve an optimum adjustment of both relationships for every operator.
Another approach has been to provide a foot pedal mounting which is moveable with the seat in its fore and aft adjustment, thus maintaining a constant relationship, in a fore and after direction, between the seat and the pedals. The pedal--seat relationship, being fixed, represents a compromise, although the lever--seat relationship may be optimized for each operator with no diminution of that compromised relationship for the seat to pedal.
The present invention provides a means for adjusting the foot pedals in a fore and after direction completely independent of the seat fore and aft adjustment so that it is possible to optimize for each operator the relationship between the seat and the hand levers and between the seat and the pedals. The structural arrangement mounts the foot pedals as well as certain valves, for movement, provides a means for adjustment which is relatively easy to utilize, which positively retains the pedals in the selected position, which is reliable, and which is comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and easy to install and maintain.